News

16.12.2014

The EEC discussed application of the principle of exhaustion of exclusive right to intellectual property assets

December 15 in Moscow, the first session was held of the Working Group for drafting the proposals on further application of the principle of exhaustion of exclusive rights to intellectual property assets under the EEC Board chaired by Member of the Board – Minister in charge of Economy and Financial Policy Timur Suleymenov. December 15 in Moscow, the first session was held of the Working Group for drafting the proposals on further application of the principle of exhaustion of exclusive rights to intellectual property assets under the EEC Board chaired by Member of the Board – Minister in charge of Economy and Financial Policy Timur Suleymenov. The session was attended by representatives of the Eurasian Economic Commission, authorized state bodies and the business community of the CU and SES Member-States. Timur Suleymenov informed the participants on the problematic issues of selecting the principle of exhaustion of exclusive rights to intellectual property assets and the tasks the Commission Council set before the Working Group. "A responsible task has been set before the Working Group—to find the most optimal solution to the problem, perhaps, come up with a compromising option of trade mark exclusive right exhaustion, trying to achieve the highest social and economic effect for all the Union's Member-States," the Minister emphasized. The members of the Working Group expressed their support of both the regional principle of trade mark exclusive right exhaustion and the proposal on a possibility of a differentiated approach to the application of the right exhaustion principle, improvement of antimonopoly tools for regulation of intellectual property issues. There was an active discussion of the impact the selection of a right exhaustion principle has on the social and economic indicators of the EEU Member-States. There was a discussion on the legal aspects of the selection of a right exhaustion principle in the environment of the Member-States' effective international commitments. Based on the session results, the Working Group decided to conduct an enhanced study of possible consequences of the selection of a right exhaustion principle for the EEU Member-States' economies. As part of the study, the Working Group member were instructed to submit to the EEC an analysis of the Member-States legislations and law enforcement practices in the area of quality control and technical regulations, unfair competition and protection of consumers' rights in the import of goods, as well as information on the experience of foreign countries and integration associations in affecting of right holders' pricing policy in the sensitive goods market. The members of the Working Group also concluded that it was necessary to improve the legislation system in order to prevent low quality and hazardous products from dissemination on the one hand, and prevent abuses and unfair competition on the part of intellectual property right holders, on the other. For reference Subject to EEC Council Decision No. 45 dated June 26, 2014, a Working Group was created under the EEC Board to develop proposals as to further application of the principle of exhaustion of exclusive rights to intellectual property assets. The composition of the Working Group was approved by EEC Council Decision No. 108 dated September 18, 2014.